In Busan, ticket sales opening on September 21 offer more than seats: they provide access to a map of contemporary Asian cinema. The 31st Busan International Film Festival will run from October 6 to 15 with 315 films in total, including 246 official selections from 59 countries and 69 works presented through Community BIFF.
The festival announces 105 world or international premieres, 31 screens across eight theaters and its largest official program since 2019. Scale is not the only point. Busan assembles new filmmakers, major international titles, series, heritage, actor conversations and a professional market in one city. Its real strength lies in the continuity between audiences, artists and industry.
A Gateway, Not Just a Showcase
The competition, created in 2025, enters its second year with films from Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan, Iran, Uzbekistan and Indonesia. The Vision section adds 23 independent productions, twelve Korean and eleven from elsewhere in Asia. Its many associated awards give these films several routes to recognition among critics, professional networks and audiences.
Selection guarantees a young filmmaker neither distribution nor future financing. Busan does, however, shorten the distance between a first screening and conversations that may extend a film’s life. The 21st Asian Contents & Film Market, held October 10–13, will circulate 25 intellectual properties from Korea, Japan, Taiwan and Indonesia through the Busan Story Market.
This approach recognizes that cinema often begins before the final screenplay. A novel, comic, concept or local story can become a film, series or co-production when the right partners meet. The market does not replace artistic work; it builds the economic conditions that allow it to grow.
Michelle Yeoh, a Career Across Several Centers
Michelle Yeoh will receive the Asian Filmmaker of the Year award at the opening ceremony. The choice captures Busan’s transnational purpose. Born in Malaysia, established through Hong Kong action cinema, transformed into a global star and then the first Asian woman to win the Academy Award for Best Actress, Yeoh has built a career that belongs to no single market.
The festival goes beyond a trophy. A special program brings together three films selected by Yeoh — Reign of Assassins, Everything Everywhere All at Once and Sandiwara — along with her new feature It’s My Time. The selection lets audiences examine a trajectory, its transformations and the different industrial imaginations it crosses.
Ann Hui and the Active Memory of Cinema
Hong Kong director Ann Hui will receive the Camellia Award, established by the festival with Chanel to recognize contributions to the position of women in cinema. Since The Secret in 1979, Hui has directed 27 fiction features and two documentaries, becoming a defining figure of the Hong Kong New Wave.
The award makes a body of work visible, but it also raises a question of transmission. Pioneering women’s careers are too often celebrated without their films remaining accessible, restored and taught. By combining recognition, the artist’s presence and an encounter with audiences, a festival can turn tribute into real circulation.
Honoring the Person Who Built the Passage
The Korean Cinema Award for Kim Dong-ho adds another layer. A former BIFF chairman and founding figure, he helped construct the institutions that enabled Korean cinema to gain global recognition. The festival is honoring not only those who appear on screen or direct films, but also those who build the places where work meets partners and audiences.
The opening film, Kim Jong-kwan’s The Table: Day and Night, grounds the edition in present creation. Receiving its world premiere, it follows four love stories in one café across seasons and different moments of the day. Beside the major honors, the choice recalls that a festival’s heart remains the meeting between a new work and a room.
When Series Enter Cinema’s House
The On Screen section, launched in 2021, presents series before their official release. It reflects a cultural shift: audiovisual stories travel among theaters, television and platforms while festivals redefine their role. Screening a series in a cinema does not erase differences between formats, but it provides a critical and collective space that a domestic algorithm cannot.
Busan therefore refuses to choose between heritage and change. It programs contemporary masters, first films, series, community work and a tribute to Ahn Sung-ki co-hosted with the Korean Film Archive. Coherence comes less from one format than from a mission: making Asian cinemas visible in their full diversity.
Ticket Sales as the First Public Test
The opening of sales now tests the festival’s ability to turn this architecture into an accessible experience. Added screenings and an exceptional Tuesday opening should offer more choice during the busiest days. Access also depends on clear pricing, a robust system and programming that can guide audiences beyond titles they already know.
At a time when Korean cinema’s global success could absorb all the attention, Busan maintains a wider ambition: connecting the continent’s cinemas without reducing them to a trend. Michelle Yeoh, Ann Hui and Kim Dong-ho represent three forms of passage — in front of the camera, behind it and around institutions. The festival answers with a fourth: the passage from film to audience.
